When you decide that you want to start raising chickens on your farm in New Zealand, you have the following options: buying fertilized eggs, buying chicks or buying adult birds.

This article explains the pros and cons of all three options.

Fertile eggs

If you are a farmer who likes to start things from scratch, which is why you want to buy fertile eggs, you may want to reconsider your decision. Each such egg has an embryo in it. For an embryo to grow, the eggs need proper storage and transportation. Such eggs are extremely sensitive to temperatures and chilling or overheating can happen very easily. Jostling and shaking can also be problematic because too much of either will kill the embryo. For all these reasons sellers of fertile eggs very rarely guarantee that the eggs will hatch. All these complications with egg handling also reflect on the price: fertile eggs often cost as much as do chicks. Finally, incubation of fertile eggs is also a very complex and delicate process.

Chicks

Many people start with chicks because it is easy to fall in love with these creatures. Buying chicks also comes with a number of very practical benefits.

You can choose from a variety of breeds

The probability of young chicks having diseases is less compared to adult birds

You will know for sure how old the birds are

The price is typically lower compared to adult birds

Adult chickens

One of the reasons to invest in adult chickens is that you may want to get birds that already produce eggs. When buying a grown bird, you can quickly assess quality and color. There’s also less work involved around introducing the birds to the new coop. Finally, young adult birds will quickly provide you with enough eggs for all your needs.